First round: Lake Washington at Sehome, Bellingham at Cedarcrest, Lynden at Archbishop Murphy, Sultan at Burlington-Edison, all Tuesday night, 7 p.m.
Semifinals: Friday, 6 p.m. at Glacier Peak H.S.
Championship: Feb. 15, 8 p.m. at Glacier Peak H.S.
Advancing: Top three advance to regionals.
Big storylines: The Northwest Conference is usually the bully when it comes to the 2A District 1/2 tournament and this year would seem to be no different. Burlington-Edison played a brutal schedule and came out unscathed, going 17-3 with wins over Archbishop Murphy, Grandview, 4A Mount Vernon and 3A Shorecrest. Lynden, which battled B-E to a two-point defeat and lost to 3A Meadowdale by a point, is no slouch either. But don’t sleep on the Cascade Conference. Co-champs Archbishop Murphy, which is powered by post Beth Carlson, and Cedarcrest have combined to win 34 games. But they’ll have to bring their top game to have a shot at knocking down the Northwest Conference bullies.
Favorite: Burlington-Edison. The Tigers only lost three games all season, to 3A Ferndale, 1A powerhouses Lynden Christian and Blaine. They beat Murphy by 20 points in the season opener and trounced Sehome and Bellingham. This is B-E’s tournament to lose.
Dark horse: Cedarcrest. The Red Wolves have defeated every team in this tournament at least once, including Murphy, Bellingham, Lake Washington and Sultan. Cedarcrest’s only loss it didn’t avenge was to 4A Tahoma.
Matchup we want to see: Cedarcrest vs. Burlington-Edison.
Key players: Beth Carlson (AM), Kelsey Bouwman (Lynden), Mariah Swanson (B-E), Sydney Brown (B-E), Jenn Paul (Bell), Susan Kenney (Cedar), Kailyn Campbell (Cedar).
Picks: 1. Burlington-Edison, 2. Cedarcrest, 3. Archbishop Murphy
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
